20+ Questionable Vintage Recipes That Will Make You Glad You Never Attended a 70s Dinner Party

Author image for Ally Perry
Ally Perry • Writer and Editor
Apr 13, 2025 9:00 AM EDT

Living in the present day, it is difficult to conceive of just how much quicker and easier it has become to whip up something tasty in the kitchen, thanks to the last 150 or so years of technological progress. Seriously, the air fryer is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to culinary convenience in the home. 

The flipside of this is that, as in any situation where people are given more power than they have ever had before, it is very easy to take things too far. The dubious delights of mid-late 20th-century cooking are the perfect proof of this. 

While it isn't likely that people were whipping up special concoctions made of gelatin for dinner every single night, the idea that somebody may have eaten any of the examples below at all is enough to boggle the modern mind. We can find some entertainment in it, at least.

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  • 01

    They Put It Back Together Again

    SEAFOOD Baked Stuffed Salmon CARD 37 1973 Curtin Publications, Inc., New York, N.Y. PRINTED IN U.S.A.
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  • 02
    Like to fix most of summer supper early? Plan meal around these hearty make- ahead salads Snowy Chicken Confetti Salad is pretty as a pie- ture-creamy white with flecks of pimiento and green pepper. Frame it with a lettuce ruffle, tomato wedges, green-rimmed cucumber slices, radish roses. Pass Parmesan Toast Strips (page 156), fruit punch, canned-peach shortcake.
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  • 03

    5 A Day In One Convenient Meal

    Terrine of Garden Vegetables
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  • 05

    Keto People Should Start Making This

    LIVER PATÉ EN MASQUE Weight Watc ws Recipe Cards
    via Mid Century Menu
  • 06
    Easy new Souffle MONTEREY SOUFFLÉ SALAD Quick easy-a tuna salad treat the new "fast frost" way 1 package lemonilevered 1 cup hal water and ¼ cup cold water 2 tablespoons lemon juice ½ cup HELLMANN'S or BEST FOODS Real Mayonnaise One F STAR-KIST Chunk Style Tuno ¼ cup chopped cucumber or celery ¼ cup sliced stuffed olives 2 tablespoons chapped pimient teespeen grated Dissolve gelatin in hot water. Add cold water, lemon juice, Real Mayonnaise and 4 tsp. salt. Blend well with rotary beater. Pour in
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  • 07

    The Warm Igloo

    Cheezburger Image 10493154560
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  • 09

    God Bless The Shellfish That Perished For This

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  • 10
    It's strictly for company and simply delicious! You slice Frosted Ribbon Loaf through the luscious cream-cheese frosting to reveal pretty layers of ham and egg filling. Tomato rose is fitting trim.
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  • 11

    Gelatin Strikes Again

    PERFECTION SALAD THE MIDWEST 18s McCall's Great American Recipe Card Collection
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  • 12
    CONTEMPORARY COOKING 60 HAM AND BANANAS HOLLANDAISE McCall's Great American Recipe Card Collection
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  • 13

    A Party In The Mouth

    Hellmann's helps you make the prettiest potato salad ever Party Potato Salad What a beautiful new way to serve potato salad. And the luscious glaze you make with Hellmann's keeps it fresh and moist to the last slice.That's real mayonnaise. Whole-egg Hellmann's. GLAZED POTATO SALAD Firmly pack 2 quarts of your favorite potato salad into a 9 x 5 x 3-inch loaf pan. Chill at least 2 hours. Unmold and glaze following this recipe: 1 envelope unflavored gelatin 1/2 cup cold chicken broth 1 cup HELLMANN
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  • 14
    ah inspiring... SPAM 'N' LIMAS * SPAM 'N' LIMAS FROM THE HORMEL MENU FILES - Make a Spanish sauce of canned tomatoes, chopped onions, green peppers and celery leaves with a little salt, sugar, lard. Add to fresh or frozen precooked limas in casserole, partly bury 802.10 slices of Spam in top, garnish with pimiento squares and bake 25 minutes at 350° HORMEL GOOD FOODS SPAM COLD OR HOT SPAM HITS THE SPOT!
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  • 15

    Hot Dog Art

    88 ALL-AMERICAN FAVORITES Putting on the Dog ood to party f Tyga dog on chemica Icy through the thot dog h of the way through the hot d Our through the beardown ida beheeen first om Our through the b
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  • 16
    CUP Steak Puddings. RECIPE. 4 oz. Self-shing Flour 4oz. Plain Flour & tea- spoonful Baking Powder. 2 oz. fine Breadcrumbs. Pinch of Salt. 3 oz. Shredded"ATORA." Mix these ingredicots, Add cold water to make a moist passe, firms enough to handle. Cut 9 oz. steak into thin strips and 3 oz. cx kidney into pieces. Roll in a tablespoonful four seasoned with salt and pepper, then wrap cach piece of steak around plece of kidney. Grease 4 becakfastcups (or bowls of similar side and line them with passe.
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  • 17

    Certainly Looks Refreshing

    Snacks, Beverages, and Light Meals JELLIED TOMATO REFRESHER 11 Weight Watchers Recipe Cards
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  • 19

    Match The Meal To The Glassware

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  • 20
    Make it a party! Make it merry-with Good-and-Plenty Pizza! Fun to eat-fun to make, too, with French's new recipe. French's own mustard recipe calls for rare spices, specially grown mustard seeds, and the very finest vinegar. That's why French's Mustard is so light and lively-and why more women choose it and use it than any other mustard! On food... In food... French's MUSTARD no other mustard has the light and lively flavor of FRENCH'S MUSTARD Make French's Good-and-Plenty Pizza With a new tangy
    via Revderrick
  • 21

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recipes recipe 50s cooking 60s nostalgia 70s gross food food funny vintage
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